The Masquerade
by Earthako
Summary: Vegeta has a hidden secret, a hidden past that yearns for discovery but Bulma is just to busy with Yamcha to care ...or maybe things aren't always what they appear...
1. The Dress

The Masquerade ** Foreword-Vegeta has a hidden secret, a hidden past that yearns for discovery but Bulma is just to busy with Yamcha to care ...or maybe things aren't always what they appear..."The Masquerade" (B/V ratings may change) ** BY Earthako AKA Eartha *** This is a starter and it's to see if you like it so far and the idea. More chapters to come! Note- some things might not seem to tie in, but they will. ****** "Oh darling it looks beautiful!" whistled Bulma's mother as she finished adjusting the hem of the dress.  
  
Bulma looked into the mirror, her blue eyes quickly scanning over herself and the new dress. It was a ball gown fit for a queen. The dress hugged in all the right places and the midnight black color of it pronounced her cascading aqua blue hair.  
  
"Thanks, but that's only because you made it!" she snickered as she twirled around a couple of times liking very much what she saw.  
  
Her mothered smiled as she stood back to admire her handy work. "I'm sure it'll catch a couple of eyes dear."  
  
Bulma laughed. "Maybe even that ignorant buffoon Vegeta!"  
  
"He's quit handsome, much more so than that other man." Mrs. Briefs chirped as she started unzipping the back of the dress for Bulma.  
  
"Mom..." Bulma chided. "Vegeta is far from handsome and that other man, Yamcha, is nothing but a gentleman!"  
  
"I never said he wasn't." Bulma's mother sang as she took the dress from Bulma then hanging it up on a nearby hanger.  
  
"You never said he was either." Bulma added angrily as she stepped into a pair of jeans almost falling over as she tugged them up.  
  
"Honey Bulma, I just think Yampa or whatever you call him is well." Mrs. Briefs circled her eyes uneasily around the room.  
  
"Is." Bulma asked anxiously as she slipped a t-shirt over her head.  
  
"Not, as dependable as you think he is." She said it hurriedly patting Bulma on the back lightly then taking a seat on a little wooden stool next to the sewing machine.  
  
Bulma stopped what she was doing. "What do you mean not dependable as I think he is?" She walked over to the window the statement jumping in her mind. The twilight was creeping slowly in and the machine was still thundering and rumbling on. 'What could he be possibly doing in there?'  
  
Mrs. Briefs began to speak breaking Bulma's concentration. "I mean he has cheated on you several times, and there is also the fact that he always seems to forget about dates and when you're meeting him."  
  
Bulma turned to face her mother her eyes leaving the window. "That's a bad memory, that's all." She turned away once again; she knew it wasn't true, it wasn't just a bad memory.  
  
"Well, I should be getting dinner ready." Bulma's mother got up from her cozy seat and headed out of the room. "Let's forget we even had this conversation?"  
  
"Yes lets." Bulma walked away from the window and out of the room just in time to see her mother disappear down the hall. The hallway had become dark casting eerie shadows on the wall. She headed to her room clicking the lights on as she passed them.  
  
Then upon approaching the last light she was interrupted by the ringing of the telephone. Quickly entering her room she picked it up and answered it.  
  
"Hey Bulma!" It was Yamcha, somebody who she just didn't want to talk to at the moment, and come to think of it she didn't feel like talking to anyone.  
  
"Yamcha I got to go." Bulma replied softly as she started to hang up the phone.  
  
Yamcha screamed into the other end of the receiver causing Bulma to stop what she was doing, "Bulma wait! What's wrong?"  
  
She slowly picked up the telephone and put it next to her ear. "It's nothing, really. I'm just a little disheveled."  
  
"Disheveled? Does it have anything to do with me?" Yamcha waited. "Bulma! Hello?"  
  
She didn't want to answer the question; she didn't know how to put it. "Well. in some ways yes, and in other ways no." Bulma waited for an answer getting a gruff snort in reply instead.  
  
"You know Bulma you can tell me anything."  
  
She shifted the phone from one ear to the other. "I'm just not sure I can."  
  
"Don't you trust me?" he asked her eagerly, a bit annoyed and hurt.  
  
"Of course I do Yamcha, what am I talking about!" Bulma sat on her bed and began twirling the cord. She didn't know what to think, how could her mother's thoughts enter her head! Yamcha loved her, he did! "How about you come over for dinner!"  
  
"Are you sure you want me to?"  
  
"Yes. I don't know what came over me before. I'm really sorry Yamcha."  
  
"That's all right. I'll see you later then, bye." The phone clicked and she began to put down the receiver when another click caught her attention.  
  
'Vegeta?'  
  
**** To be continued (if liked) -  
  
****  
  
So review me and tell me if you like it so far and if you do more chapters are surely on the way. 


	2. I Hate You?

The Masquerade   
  
***  
  
By: Earthako AKA Eartha  
  
***  
  
Chapter 2- I Hate You?  
  
I was very pleased at the reviews so look what you got! Oh yeah and if you want to know these things '' that I use are for a thought that is occurring in bulma's mind but is not related using it like she is actually saying it. Yeah. I write weird.  
  
*****************************************  
  
The click echoed through her ear. 'Could it be Vegeta?' she couldn't tell. She turned away from the phone, and then proceeded to the bathroom. Chills went down her back; she hoped he hadn't listened; maybe it was one of her parents? It was a comforting thought, but unlikely. Nothing like this had ever happened to her, Bulma.   
  
Bulma turned on the light in the bathroom and began to brush her hair then began to apply a red ruby lipstick. She stared at herself in the mirror contemplating about what just happened.   
  
'Need to do something but what?' The idiot Vegeta had invaded her privacy and she had to do something about it!  
  
She banged her fist on the counter at the thought of this smearing the lipstick all over her face and the white counter top.  
  
"Urgh." She looked down angrily at the mess and began to clean it up with some toilet paper.  
  
'If he was listening to our conversation he must have heard everything that we said, every word and every syllable. He would know about my unhappy relationship with Yamcha, no it wasn't an unhappy relationship it just needed some mending that's all! Something must be done.' she mused as she threw the toilet paper into the garbage bin. Then headed quickly back into her room.  
  
The light flickered faintly in her room comforting her mood. It was almost dark, almost dinnertime she needed to finish getting ready.  
  
Bulma slipped on a bright yellow dress and stormed out of the room shutting the light and the door behind her. There were so many things that still needed doing before dinner; she would need to begin her plot, her game.   
  
"Damn Vegeta, how I hate you." She muttered as she stopped to look out one of the windows in the hall.  
  
"You should have just stayed in your own business." Bulma concentrated out at the outside world her mind transfixed on the machine, hoping no one would set a foot out of it. She could feel the hatred growing inside her; he would need to be dealt with.  
  
She slowly dragged her eyes away from the square box and began to walk down through the hall to the kitchen.   
  
She began to turn a corner when..."Smack" she was down on the ground.  
  
"What the heck!" Bulma looked up from the ground trying to regain self-control. She had walked right smack into a door, Vegeta's door.  
  
"Woman, you should look where you are going!" His voice came out strong and raspy sending shivers through her spine.  
  
"Well, Vegeta, maybe you should help the person you knocked down up!" She pushed her blue locks from her face and began to pick herself up. She was still a bit dizzy and began to topple as she stood.  
  
"Is this ok Woman?" Vegeta's hand was outstretched before her and holding her tumbling body upright.  
  
"Thanks." Bulma was taken a back. This didn't seem like the Sayain Prince at all. 'Why is he being nice to me?' She looked into his eyes trying to decipher any means of emotion but found none and was meet with an equally disturbing and hard gaze as hers.  
  
"What are you looking at?" His muscles tightened slightly under the silence.  
  
"Nothing." Bulma croaked; his stare became more intense then before.   
  
He turned away and got up from his crouched over position. "I think you have a guest." He started to walk away leaving Bulma confused and tousled. "The doorbells ringing."  
  
"My mom will get it." Bulma tossed his hand away from her body. 'He'll get it tonight, I'll show him! I can't believe he's being so nice after what he just did! Idiot, my god what's gotten into me?'  
  
"Fine." Vegeta shrugged and left.  
  
"I hope you're not coming to dinner!" Bulma shouted after him.  
  
Vegeta stopped, "Well, keep hoping." And began walking away once more.  
  
"Idiot" she whispered under her breath as she headed to the front door the ring becoming more persistent. 'Keep strong Bulma, you'll deal with him, you'll deal with him.'  
  
***************  
  
Hehehhe another cliffhanger! I am going to post the next chapter soon but with shorter chapters come more chapters and longer days on the new list! Yeah. But I am going to get the next chapter up by the end of this week as well as my other stories. HURRAY   
  
HURRAY! 


	3. Spaghetti

The Masquerade  
  
***  
  
BY: Earthako AKA Eartha  
  
***  
  
Chapter 3 – Spaghetti…  
  
  
  
***  
  
So longer chapters? Ok. Can do. Wow, I'm really having some good   
  
ideas for this story. You know what? Since I am so happy with the   
  
responses I'm getting I'll make this chapter really extra long!   
  
Extra, super, duper, long! Well not really. So read, review, and   
  
enjoy! Make sure you grab some popcorn too!  
  
*************************  
  
Bulma reached the door as the ring of the second bell ricocheted   
  
through her ears. She clutched the doors handle and pulled.  
  
"Hey Bulma!" It was a tall man with dark shaggy hair.  
  
"Hi Yamcha won't you come in," Bulma swung the door open wider   
  
allowing space for Yamcha to enter. "My mother is almost done   
  
with dinner."  
  
"Sounds go to me!" he entered the room and handed Bulma a bundle   
  
of flowers. "Here, these are for you."  
  
Taking the flowers from Yamcha Bulma ran the petals slightly   
  
under her noise.  
  
"These smell real nice Yamcha, where did you get them?" She   
  
looked up from the flowers and began to walk into the kitchen,   
  
Yamcha following.  
  
"Umm… my garden." Yamcha sped forward and quickly grabbed a seat   
  
at the table then gave a small wave and greeting to Mrs. Briefs.  
  
Bulma raised her brow as she turned around to greet her   
  
boyfriend's eyes. "You live in an apartment."   
  
"So." He added quietly as he sniffed at the air his senses taking   
  
in the smell of spaghetti and meatballs.   
  
"Never mind." Bulma answered as she filled a small vase up with   
  
some water and placed the roses and the vase in the center of the   
  
table then sat down.  
  
Yamcha stretched his hand across the table to reach Bulma's, "Are   
  
you excited about the Science Ball?"  
  
Bulma looked down at his hands and hers, it didn't seem right,   
  
she didn't like it. She could feel his feet begin to rap around   
  
her legs. His thighs glided against hers, she was trapped,   
  
trapped in a place she did not want to be.  
  
"Bulma?"  
  
She looked up he had asked her something? Her mind worked back   
  
trying to remember the question. 'The Science Ball! That was the   
  
question!'  
  
"I'm very excited." She moved her hand away from Yamcha's and   
  
began to get up.   
  
Yamcha sat back a bit offended. "You don't seem excited."  
  
Bulma pushed her chair in and made her way to her mother. 'Please   
  
mom need some help.'   
  
She then answered in her most excited voice "Oh but I am!   
  
Especially since both of us are going together. I know we'll have   
  
a great time." Bulma turned around hoping to meet an approved   
  
expression and she did.  
  
"Hey Bulma what are you doing?" Yamcha pointed to her and the   
  
place she was standing; the middle of the floor doing nothing.  
  
Bulma quickly smiled. "I'm going to help my mom." She then went   
  
quickly to the counter. "You need help don't you?"  
  
Bulma began to cut some tomatoes.   
  
"Of course I do, but maybe you should get Vegeta for dinner."   
  
Mrs. Briefs chirped; she sensed Bulma's uneasiness.  
  
Bulma looked up from her tomato and glared at her mother. "Mom.   
  
If he doesn't sense his own hunger why should we remind him!"  
  
"You don't need to remind me, I remembered."   
  
Bulma turned around her eyes meeting Vegeta's. He pulled out a   
  
chair and sat down next to an uneasy Yamcha.  
  
"So, when are we eating?" he crossed his arms and laid back in   
  
his chair as he kept an eye glaring at Bulma.  
  
Bulma began to open her mouth but was then interrupted by her   
  
mother.  
  
"Spaghetti and meatballs!" Mrs. Briefs answered and then ushered   
  
Bulma to her seat. "Bulma go sit down."  
  
"Ok, mom!" Bulma added angrily as she sat down across from the   
  
two men. 'Now, it's time to began my game!'  
  
Silence had fallen on the table as the food was being served; it   
  
was awkward and also intimidating. Bulma could feel her heart   
  
beat quickening as two hard stares meet her, but she was Bulma   
  
and would not let her self weaken. She needed to break the   
  
silence.  
  
"Yamcha," Bulma sang playfully. "How about that Dance, when do   
  
you suppose is a good time to pick me up?"  
  
Yamcha stopped eating a smirk drew across his face. "I suppose 7   
  
o'clock, you know since it starts at 8 we might as well leave a   
  
little early especially with traffic and all."  
  
Bulma twirled her spaghetti as she flung her blue hair back off   
  
her shoulders. "That's a reasonable time to go." She looked up   
  
from her dish glancing over at Yamcha then with one eye at   
  
Vegeta, no emotion showed. 'Damn. He's like a rock!'  
  
"Bulma, what are you wearing?" Yamcha added sweetly as he stared   
  
into her eyes.  
  
"Yamcha you should know better, a woman must never tell what she   
  
will be wearing or it will be bad luck." Bulma faked a sweet   
  
smile that seemed to satisfy Yamcha.  
  
"Sorry, I forgot."   
  
Bulma looked at Vegeta again, she had expected to see him   
  
munching away at his food but instead he was staring directly at   
  
her. His eyes cold and emotionless as always. 'Maybe he didn't   
  
hear our conversation after all?'   
  
She shifted her head to face Yamcha's once again and then back   
  
down at her plate. She rested her gaze on the food.  
  
"Bulma, I was thinking…" A hand reached out to hers. "I was   
  
thinking that maybe we could…"  
  
His hand touched hers and she instantly brought it back to her   
  
side.  
  
Bulma looked up, Yamcha had a stunned and hurt expression on his   
  
face and Vegeta had a smirk a big smirk plastered on his face.  
  
'Darn, Darn, Darn! So he was listening to our conversation!'  
  
*********************  
  
Well that wasn't that long but, it is another chapter and up   
  
quick too! Please Review! 


	4. Mother?

The Masquerade   
  
***  
  
BY: Earthako AKA Eartha  
  
***  
  
Chapter 4 - Mother?  
  
***  
  
"Bulma what's wrong with you? You've been acting really strange lately like, like as if you don't like me anymore." Yamcha got out of his seat. "Maybe we shouldn't see each other for awhile."  
  
Bulma looked up from her trembling hand and followed her gaze towards him, but she was too late to speak, he had already left the table and was now outside getting into his car.  
  
Bulma's mother broke the awkward silence, "My oh my, this has been an unexpected break up."   
  
Bulma turned to face her mother in objection but was instead meet with a rude remark from Vegeta who sat crossed legged from her.  
  
"Such a petty, such a petty..." he shook his head from side to side and got up from the table and started to leave.  
  
"What's your problem Vegeta? Bulma picked herself up from her seat and walked towards him. "Do you have some weird pleasure at snooping on people then watching gleefully as they break up?"  
  
"Maybe, especially if it is someone who I hate...terribly" Vegeta picked her out of the way her fist clenched against his chest in protest.  
  
"I hate you Vegeta! I can't believe I ever asked you to stay! Now put me down you madman!" Bulma's eyes filled with tears as she spoke her voice trembled with each word. He always had some why to reach her inner most emotions and that's what she hated most about him.  
  
"Calm down little woman." He put her back on the ground carefully and began the trek to the machine but was then once again stopped.  
  
"Calm down? How can you expect me to calm down after you Vegeta were the cause of our breakup? You and your stupid ears of yours!"  
  
Vegeta looked sympathetically down at her but still with the same hard gaze he looked at everyone with. "My ears? What do my ears have anything to do with this?"  
  
Bulma's eyes filled with rage as she spoke. "You know very well what I am talking about so don't play stupid with me!"  
  
"I assure you I don't now let me pass or..."  
  
"Or what?" Bulma's eyebrows knit together in frustration.  
  
"It's not worth my while..." he quickly picked her up again and walked around her. She watched him disappear down the corridor as he muttered quietly. "Well, any way for now it isn't."  
  
Bulma looked around her trying to take in the whole ordeal once again. Truthfully Vegeta was acting uncannily weird and it just about crept the life out of her.  
  
"Bulma?"   
  
She quickly turned around to face her mother who was now seated in the living room.  
  
"I need to talk to you." Her mothers voice was low and expressionless.  
  
Bulma made her way to the living room slowly and apparently to slowly for her mother.  
  
"Bulma hurry up it's very important." Mrs. Brief's fingers fiddled uneasily as Bulma took a seat next to her.  
  
"This is hard for me to admit to you and I wasn't going to tell you this but...I have to and I know this was wrong of me to do but Bulma you got to forgive me honey as your mother and all..."  
  
Bulma reached over to touch her mother's hands. "Ma what is it? I can't even comprehend what you're saying."  
  
"I'm sorry Bulma..." she looked away as she began to speak again. "There is no need to be angry with Vegeta."  
  
Bulma shoot up from her seat fist clenched tight against her side. "No need after what he did!"  
  
"Sit down Bulma please, it'll make it easier for me to explain."  
  
Bulma nodded and quickly sat down it was indeed rare to see her mother acting in this fashion.  
  
"It wasn't Vegeta who you thought was listening to you on the phone...it was me." Mrs. Briefs looked up at her daughter her expression showed that she didn't know what to think of the whole ordeal.  
  
"Mother how could you?" Bulma's words trembled as she spoke.  
  
"I...I...was curious Bulma about your relationship with Yampa and well I wanted to see..."  
  
"See what mom?" Bulma took her hand away from her mother and stood up again. "See if we were going to end it soon! See if we were over!"  
  
"Bulma I'm really sorry..."  
  
"I can't talk about it right now I'm going to my room."  
  
***  
  
So this is the next chapter and I'm really sorry I didn't get it up when I told you I was going to but I just got a new computer because my old one contracted a virus and everything was terrible and I had to start from scratch on this chapter and the others I wrote. So I'm really sorry. Oh gosh I'm starting to sound like Mrs. Briefs. Next chapter really soon to come! 


	5. An Unexpected Turn of Events

Bed was exactly what Bulma needed to do. Everything was going wrong. Bulma's once perfect world was upside down, inside and out. God, did everything have to go wrong at the same time?

Bulma sat on her bed, eyes transfixed on the ceiling, tears running down her face.

Bulma knew her mother didn't approve of Yamcha but, to go this far? Well, it was really unreasonable!

Tossing herself onto her stomach Bulma began using her pillow as a punching bag and soon after, a shoulder to cry on. Her emotions were uncontrollable, angry one moment, and sad the next, it was like playing a game of tug-a-ware and being on both teams.

She loved Yamcha. He was the only man she ever knew. He was her best friend, her buddy, and the man she always believed she would marry and now she was most likely just something from his past.

Now, more than ever did she miss his touch, those flirtatious butterfly kisses, the ones that make your stomach swirl around like whirly birds in the wind. He would never come back to her. Especially after the way she treated him tonight.

How could she have pulled her hand away like that?

She flipped in bed again pulling her tear soaked pillow close to her body.

It was all Vegeta's fault! That insufferable man and his damn gaze! He was the one who had caused her to get all jumpy and act irrationally!

Bulma sat on her bed throwing the pillow to the floor as her eyes maintained the gaze that had settled upon the window and the machine that sat right outside.

Vegeta had to pay for what he did!

Of course her mother was only curious. She loved her mother and she hated Vegeta, her mother was only looking out for her daughter not seeking ways to destroy her life and tear it to shreds like the black haired buffoon.

Slowly, Bulma got to her feet and walked over to her bathroom, not bothering to turn any lights on in the room leaving the only reflection in her mirror to be a ghostlike apparition.

Her face was stained with tears and she promptly wiped them away. There wasn't any need to cry anymore. It was time to exact her revenge. She splashed some cold water on her face, refreshing and waking herself up from her grieving and back to cruel reality.

She had work to do now. She would get back at Vegeta, and she would do it as nicely as possible because as they say, you catch more bees with honey than vinegar and Bulma intended to catch Vegeta and see him caught in a sticky situation.

It was time to set the trap and catch the beast.

Outside the air had become humid and still and the sky that was once illuminated by a round orb of light had disappeared into an oily darkness. A storm was brewing and that was completely appropriate in Bulma's opinion.

Making her way across the yard Bulma paid close attention to her footing, not wanting to spill the tray of treats she had prepared for a most assuredly, hungry, super villain.

She had fixed all his favorites, pork dumplings, shrimp tempura, and oddly enough, a dozen vanilla cupcakes. There was no way he'd refuse the food and that meant an opportunity to situate her right where she needed to be.

Carefully, making the last couple of steps up the stairs to the capsule's door Bulma shifted the tray from one hand to the other and preceded to knock. However, and to Bulma's surprise, right as her knuckles brushed against the door a gust of air blew her down as the door swung open sending Bulma spiraling down the stairs and the tray with her.

"For God, Bloody Sakes! What the hell!" Bulma pushed a waterfall of blue tendrils away from her eyes to reveal Vegeta standing at the top of the stairs looking down at her.

"You pompous asshole! What are you staring at?" Bulma began gathering the remnants of the food that hadn't been thrown across the yard and back onto her tray. Grabbling on the ground in front of Vegeta was not part of her plan and the idiot didn't even have the decency to even move a muscle, and muscles her certainly had.

"This is your entire fault! Aren't you going to at least help me up?"

A black eyebrow raised in surprise. "You want my help? Normally the mere sight of me makes you sick to your stomach and you want me to touch you?"

Vegeta's eyes wandered amusingly at the spectacle before him. She was getting more frustrated and angry by the minute as she tried to pull herself together while maintaining as much composure as she could muster under the circumstances.

This was a marvelous opportunity to get under her skin even more than usual.

"Actually, maybe I should help you up, it could just send you to your grave."

Picking herself on to her feet Bulma finally returned the smirking gaze.

"Or maybe if you helped me up I'd swoon in your arms". Bulma batted her lashes as she coolly looked up to a surprised Vegeta.

Stepping around Bulma, Vegeta attempted to pull him self-together but before turning around to face her again, making sure to put on an apathetic expression.

"What do you want?" Vegeta's voice was dark and deep and just for measure, icily cold.

"You."


End file.
